Sleep and His Half Brother Death
by miss-cold
Summary: This short ficlet is based off the characters in the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood painting [see title] by John William Waterhouse. It's bittersweet with a slight slashy twist. Please enjoy


S: This is a fic about a painting I saw. This is from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, by John William Waterhouse (see title).

I never thought about doing a fic from a painting, usually I love a series or see a movie or something and then write and read fics. But this painting just screamed out, jumped off the screen and started strangling me with the mouse wire… 0

Disclaimer: I didn't steal anything, I'm only borrowing from John William Waterhouse, nor am I making money from this

Warning: Mild, blink and you'll miss it slash. It's more fluffiness. (This is the first time I've written in first person.)

**Sleep and his Half-Brother Death**

I slunk back into the shadows where I belonged, the twilight fading into darkness and the small stars welcoming me.

Everything was quiet.

Nobody noticed the lithe figure, baggy trousers, a too large shirt that hung off my frame, the soft evening breeze ruffled my sparrow brown hair. Nobody noticed because they all slept, I often wondered about their dreams. Did they ever see a small brown haired boy perched on a fence, a hill top, a branch, the darkness around his shoulders, always there, always alone, always shrouded.

But then, dreams weren't my realm; they were the children of the dream weaver, a bearded old man with a twinkle in his eyes, blue like the night sky full of silver. We saw each other occasionally, but the other was often too busy to pay attention to me… _they_ always were. The other Gods and Goddesses, catering to human nature, their wants their needs.

Some humans believed that we Gods governed the air, the water, the lands and animals, but we didn't, we existed purely on humanity. Life, Lust, Jealousy, Love, Greed, War, Peace, she was not seen often, Dreams, Wishes, Hunger, Hate. Humanity was so vast, yet when they all rested, when all was quiet and the Gods retreated I remained… alone.

Sleep.

Not many acknowledged me, I may have been necessary, but something easily forgotten, taken for granted, a fleeting moment of unconscious forgotten time.

"Half-brother?" A soft tentative call in the darkness and soon a pale figure emerged from the darkness.

I knew that the light-honey coloured hair that I had glimpsed once in the daylight would smell of the ocean, the sea of salty tears that souls drowned in. Rosy full lips rose at the corners, joy danced in the flaming black eyes and a delicate hand tugged at the bottom of a simple cotton white shirt, beneath the fabric the pale skin silver in the moonlight. "How are you this evening half-brother?" The question asked in a sweet melodious voice as he perched beside me, the dark haired boy.

It would not be long now.

I glanced at the small cottage, a young boy slept curled in an old sleeping mans arms. Soon I would hand over my sleeping charge to my half-brother.

Death.

"Lonely." Was my only answer and I smiled ruefully. "But you wouldn't understand." Loneliness, no god or goddess presided over such a human emotion, no god or goddess could describe such a base human sentiment, feeling.

Only I, Sleep, knew of the echoing emptiness it caused, only I was ever truly lonely. I was able to feel loneliness that was released when the humans slept and the Gods retreated, when the minds merged into a collective unconscious and everybody was one... except for me.

I glanced over at my half-brother, the blonde hair dancing in the small breeze. Death was always surrounded by others, by war, by greed, by pain or love, by fear.

My thoughts wavered, Fear was a peculiar lady, her sister seamstress Nightmare was married to the Dream weaver, only occasionally did I see her, her sister in tow, they often drove me off. Sleep disrupted and disregarded for fear of shadows and outside noises.

"I feel… lonely." The small boy by my side hesitated over the word, "When I'm with you." He smiled up at me, melancholy caught in the corner of his mouth. "Why are you sad?" Soft fingers ran down my cheek, inquisitive.

How was the young child supposed to know? Humanity faded beneath his footsteps, wilted in the echo of his voice and succumbed to the promise in his eyes.

I could only give them a temporary respite, when the knowledge became too much to bare, when they could no longer face their own mortality; I offered to take their burden.

In this too I felt human, how could I not succumb to his promises, the flaming snare in the depths of his obsidian eyes. Give myself up and let sleep ebb into death.

"I'm sad because I'm lonely." I half-lied, trying to ignore the bitter sting of truth that I had tried to hide.

Lonely with you, lonely without you. You're never fully there, a part of you is always missing, the part I want, the part I can't have.

"I'm here." he pouted and I smiled at the childish look. He was so innocent.

"You're right." I wrapped an arm around his waist and rested my head on his, nose buried in salty blonde locks. Warm like tears caught on the cusp of eyelashes, before they ran, cool down cheeks.

"But you're still not happy." The young boy squirmed in my arms to face me, lips still pursed in a pout. "Are you?"

How could I be happy in his presence, caught in the pain he brought. The silence hung on his breath and the stars peered down from their heights waiting for my response.

"You don't answer." A quiver in the voice, his bottom lip trembled and I caught it in a chaste kiss. Sweetness of death. Eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't move form my arms.

"I could never be happy with you." I kissed his forehead and rose, the wail of the old man heralded the small child's passing. This was no place for sleep to linger any longer.

As I left I nodded a silent greeting to Sorrow who brushed my cheek, her knowledge caught in the gesture and I smiled slightly. Other Gods began to arrive and I faded from sight.

No longer needed.

Alone

Shrouded in shadow

Where I belonged.

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S: It should be easy enough to find on google, just type in:

Sleep and his half-brother Death by John William Waterhouse.

Yeah, I saw it and fell in love with it, it's kind of bittersweet. I borrowed the characters, but mainly just the idea and then added a slight slashy twist to it.

Anyway it resulted in this fic, which I had a few problems and mental arguments with myself. I kinda like how it turned out… but I couldn't get the ending right. Oh well!

Please review and tell me what you think about it.


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